I've been wanting a tattoo since I was 17 years old. Originally I wanted to get the feather with birds to symbolise that I am like a bird with wings. I take control of my life and my depression doesn't have a hold on me. I didn't want to be the feather anymore just blowing wherever the wind takes me.
I never had the guts to get it done though because I was always terrified of my mum's reaction. I always hated making my mum angry cos I could always see the disappointment in her eyes. I still remember when I got my second piercing and she flip out, she even told me she would kick me out if I got another one (which I did and she didn't).
As the years passed and I continued going to my therapy sessions I realised that this is my life and I don't care what people say. If they don't like tattoos that's their problem and they don't have to get one.
One day I finally decided that I was gonna go ahead and get my tattoo done but I was going to do it the smart way. I did so much research the weeks before. I downloaded Pinterest on my phone and created boards with tattoo ideas. It was during this time that I changed my mind I wanted my first tattoo to be a lotus flower. I wanted a lotus instead because it was a symbol of growth and overcoming difficult times (which basically suffocated my life).
These were some of the designs that I was looking at on Pinterest.
My friend Sunida wanted to get another tattoo done so I thought it was the perfect time to go around and look at different shops and see the artists specialities. That was the day I decided that I was going to get my lotus tattoo done at TTwins Tattoo at Haji Lane.
After going back and forth with ideas and tattoo shops, I decided to send a text to Tracy, who was one of the tattoo artists working at TTwins Tattoo. She instantly drew a sketch for me and came up with this.
I let the idea sink in, that this was gonna be on my body for the rest of my life and I was in love with it! So a couple of months later I brought my friend Lin to the tattoo shop and told Tracy that I would be going down to the shop to get my tattoo done. Even though we had a couple of set backs it was actually Tracy's twin sister Theresa who tattooed the both of us.
All in all getting a tattoo didn't really hurt that much. There were areas where it hurt like a bitch and I swore every 2 seconds but otherwise it wasn't excruciating or anything haha! This tattoo took 2 hours to complete and it was $350. Thanks again to Theresa for such a beautiful piece of work!
The 2 weeks that followed were actually the worst part. It was really difficult to sleep because the tattoo was super sore and I was constantly terrified of someone touching it or hitting it against something. Showering was the second worst part of the healing process. The really annoying part was applying the vasaline everyday and night. At the beginning it's really uncomfortable to touch but you get used to it after awhile.
My fiance said that my tattoo was gonna itch when it heals and it was gonna start peeling so by no means should I touch it. The weird part was that it didn't really itch that much and it didn't peel all that much either. I guess I was lucky!
After a week my fiance told me that switching to baby oil will keep the colour of the tattoo vibrant so that's what I did. After a few days I ended up with a rash right beside my tattoo... I don't have any pictures of the rash because I didn't think I was going to blogging about this to be honest.
So I stopped using baby oil all together and I guess at that point I didn't really need to continue because it was pretty much fully healed.
My tattoo after 2 weeks, fully healed.
The healing process felt like the longest 2 weeks of my life but now it's finally apart of me and I'm in love with it. No part of me regrets it!
The only problem now is telling my mum about it and pretty much the rest of my family because the only people who know are my friends, my fiance, my brother, my dad and my cousin. Telling my mum and my grandma is gonna suck cos they're gonna be so mad and so disappointed but they'll get over it. I mean they're gonna have to because this isn't the last tattoo that I'm getting!
There are 2 more tattoos that I definitely want to get and that's a wolf on one thigh and an owl on the other thigh. I do have some other ideas like flowers on my shoulder, a strength symbol and an arrow but I'm taking it step by step. This lotus tattoo was something that I needed to do because it has the most important meaning. The other tattoo don't really have meaning and I don't care that they don't have meaning. They're just tattoos that I want to have on my body.
I'm obviously not going to rush into anything and I also need to save money for my next one so it'll give me some time to think. The only reason why I managed to afford $350 was because of my ang pao money! (Ang pao money is basically money that's given to you in a red packet during Chinese New Year).
That's all I could think about to include. If anyone has any questions about my tattoo or the tattoo shop or anything at all go ahead and leave a comment down below!
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